in the northern latitudes the dawn comes early even as the bombers were turning away from the city the first rays of light were coming up in the east in the Stillness of the morning great pillars of black smoke towered over the districts of panav vien and lenberg on the low clouds it was difficult to separate the soft glow of daylight from the reflections of the fires that blazed in bomb battered Berlin as the smoke drifted slowly across the ruins Germany's most bombed City stood out in Stark maab Splendor it was blackened by soot pockmarked by thousands of craters and laced by the Twisted gers of ruined buildings whole blocks of apartment houses were gone and in the very heart of the capital entire neighborhoods had vanished in these wastelands what had once been broad roads and streets were now pitted trails that snaked through mountains of rubble everywhere covering acre after acre gutted windowless roofless buildings gaped up at the sky ey in the aftermath of the raid a fine residue of soot and Ash rained down powdering the wreckage and in the great Canyons of smashed brick and tortured steel nothing moved but the eddying dust it swirled along the broad expanse of the unen Lindon the famous trees bare now the leaf buds seared on the branches few of the banks libraries and elegant shops lining the renowned Boulevard were undamaged but at the Western end of the Avenue Berlin's most famous landmark the eight-story high Brandenburg gate though gashed and chipped still straddled the Via Triumph ales on its 12 massive Doric columns on the nearby vilhelm stasa lined by government buildings and former palaces shards of glass from thousands of windows glittered in the debris at num 73 the beautiful little Palace that had been the official residence of German presidents in the days before the Third Reich had been gutted by a raging fire once it had been described as a miniature versailes now sea nymphs from the ornate fountain in the for court lay shattered against the colon front entrance and along the roof line chipped and gouged by flying fragments the twin statues of Rin maidens leaned headless over the littered Courtyard a block away the 77 was scarred but intact piles of rubble lay all around the three-story L-shaped building its yellowish Brown exterior was scabas and the garish golden eagles above each entrance garlanded swastikas in their claws were pitted and deeply scored jutting out above was the imposing balcony from which the world had been hared with many a frenzied speech the reichs canai chancellory of Adolf Hitler still remained at the top of the battered Kur first andam Berlin Fifth Avenue bulked the deformed skeleton of the once fashionable Kaiser vilhelm Memorial Church the hands on the charred clock face were stopped at exactly 7:30 they had been that way since 1943 when bombs WI wiped out 1,000 Acres of the city on a single November evening 100 yard away was the jungle of wreckage that had been the internationally famed Berlin Zoo the aquarium was completely destroyed the reptile hippopotamus kangaroo tiger and elephant houses along with scores of other buildings were severely damaged the surrounding tear Garten the renowned 630 acre Park was a no man's land of room-sized craters rubble-filled lakes and partly de Embassy buildings once the park had been a natural Forest of luxuriant trees now most of them were burned and ugly stumps in the northeast corner of the tear Garden stood Berlin's most spectacular ruin destroyed not by Allied bombs but by German Politics the huge reichstag seat of parliament had been deliberately set Ablaze by the Nazis in 1933 and the fire had been blamed on the Communists thus providing Hitler with an excuse to seize full dictator IAL power on the crumbling Portico above its six columned entrance overlooking the Sea of wreckage that almost engulfed the building were the chiseled blackened words Dem deutan fuler to the German people a complex of Statuary had once stood before the Rog all had been destroyed except one piece a 200t high dark red granite and bronze column on a massive colon base after the 1933 burning Hitler had ordered it moved now it stood a mile away on the charlotten bger chose close to the center of the East West axis the series of linked highways running across the city roughly from the river Harel on the west to the end of the UN Den Lindon on the east as the sun rose on this March morning its Rays caught the golden figure at the top of the column a winged statue bearing a laurel wreath in one hand a standard adorned with the Iron Cross in the other rising up out of the Wasteland Untouched by the bomb was Berlin's slender graceful Memorial the victory column across the tormented City Sirens began wailing the all clear the 314 Allied raid on Berlin was over in the first years of the war the attacks had been sporadic but now the capital was under almost continuous bombardment the Americans bombed by day the RAF By Night the statistics of Destruction had increased almost hourly by now they were staggering explosives had laid waste more than 10 square miles of builtup districts 10 times the area destroyed in London by the Luft waffer 3 billion cubic feet of debris lay in the streets enough Rubble for a mountain more than a th000 ft High almost half of Berlin's 1,562 th000 dwellings had sustained some kind of damage and every third house was either completely destroyed or uninhabitable casualties were so high that a true accounting would never be possible but at least 52,000 were dead and twice that number seriously injured five times the number killed and seriously injured in the bombing of London Berlin had become a second Carthage and the final Agony was still to come in this Wilderness of Devastation it was remarkable that people could survive at all but life went on with a kind of lunatic normality amid the ruins 12,000 policemen were still on duty postmen delivered the mail newspapers came out daily telephone and telegraphic Services continued garbage was collected some cinemas theaters and even a part of the wrecked Zoo were open the Berlin philarmonic was finishing its season department stores ran special sales food and bakery shops opened each morning and laundries dry cleaning establishments and beauty salons did a Brisk business the underground and elevated Railways functioned the few fashionable bars and restaurants still intact Drew capacity crowds and on almost every street the strident calls of Berlin's famous flower vendors echoed as in the days of Peace perhaps most remarkable more than 65% of Berlin's great factories were in some kind of working condition almost six Lux people had jobs but getting to them now was a major problem it often took hours traffic was clogged there were detours slowdowns and breakdowns as a consequence berliners had taken to Rising early everyone wanted to get to work on time because the Americans early Rises themselves were often at work over the City by 9:00 a.m. on this Bright Morning in the city's sprawling 20 districts berliners came forth like Neolithic cave dwellers they emerged from the bowels of subways from shelters beneath public buildings from the cellers and basements of their shattered homes whatever their hopes or fears whatever their loyalties or political beliefs this much berliners had in common those who had survived another night were determined to Live Another Day the same could be said for the nation itself in this sixth year of World War II Hitler's Germany was fighting desperately for survival the Reich that was to last a millennium had been invaded from West and East the anglo-american forces were sweeping down on the Great River Ry had breached it at Ragan and were Racing for Berlin they were only 300 mil to the West on the Eastern banks of the odor a far more urgent and infinitely more fearful threat had materialized there stood the Russian armies less than 5050 miles away it was Wednesday March 21 1945 the first day of spring on radios all over the city this morning berliners heard the latest hit tune this will be a spring Without End to the dangers that threatened them berliners reacted each in his own way some stubbornly disregarded the Peril hoping it would go away some CED it others reacted with anger or fear and some with the Grim logic of those whose backs are to the wall prepared bravely to meet their fate head on in the southwestern District of zindorf Milkman Richard poganovo was as usual up with the dawn in years past his daily routine had often seemed monotonous now he was grateful for it he worked for the 300-year-old domain daram Farm in zand dorf's fashionable suburb of daram only a few miles from the center of the huge capital in any other City the dair's location would have been considered an Oddity but not in Berlin 1/ fifth of the city's total area lay in parks and Woodlands along Lakes canals and streams still poganovo like many other domain employees wished the farm were somewhere else far outside the city away from the danger and the constant bombing panovska his wife lisabeth and their three children had spent the night once again in the cellar of the main building on the kernigan Louis arasa sleep had been almost impossible because of the the hammering of anti-aircraft guns and the bursting of bombs like everyone else in Berlin the big 39-year-old Milkman was constantly tired these days he had no idea where bombs had dropped during the night but he knew none had fallen near the domain's big cow bars the precious milk herd was safe nothing seemed to bother those 200 cows amid the explosion of bombs and the Thunder of anti-aircraft fire they stood patiently placidly chewing their cuds and in some miraculous way they continued to produce milk it never ceased to amaze panovska sleepily he loaded the ancient Brown milk wagon and its trailer hitched up his two horses the foxc colored Lisa and Hans and with his gray spits dog py on the seat beside him set out on his rounds rattling across the courtyard cobblestones he turned right on pachelli alley and headed north in the direction of schmargendorf it was 6:00 a.m. it would be 9: at night before he finished worn out aching for sleep panovska still had not lost his cheerfully Gruff manner he had become a kind of morale builder for his 1,200 customers his route lay on the fringes of three major districts zindorf shonberg and vilmer dorf all three had been badly bombed sherberg and vilmer dorf lying closest to the center of the city were almost obliterated in vilmer dorf alone more than 36,000 dwellings were destroyed and almost half of the 340,000 people in the two districts had been left homeless under the circumstances a cheerful face was a rare and welcome sight even at this early hour pogona found people waiting for him at each intersection there were cues everywhere these days for the butcher the baker even for water when the mains were hit despite the lines of customers panova rang a large cowbell announcing his arrival he had begun the practice early in the year when the the increase in daylight raids made it impossible for him to deliver doorto door to his customers the Bell like panovska himself had become something of a symbol this morning was no different panova greeted his customers and doled out their rationed quantities of milk and dairy products he had been acquainted with some of these people for nearly a decade and they knew he could be counted on for a little extra now and then by juggling the ration cards poganovo could usually produce a little more milk or cream for special occasions like christenings or weddings to be sure it was illegal and therefore risky but all berliners had to face risks these days more and more panov's customers seemed tired tense and preoccupied few people talked about the war anymore nobody knew what was going on and nobody could have done anything about it in any case besides there were enough armchair generals panovska did not invite discussions of the news by submerging himself in his 15-hour daily routine and refusing to think about the war he like thousands of other berliners had almost immunized himself against it each day now poganovo watched for certain signs that helped keep him from losing heart for one thing the roads were still open there were no roadblocks or tank traps on the main streets no artillery pieces or dugin tanks no soldiers Manning key positions there was nothing to indicate that the authorities feared a Russian attack or that Berlin was threatened with Siege there was one other small but significant clue every morning as panova drove through the subdistrict of friedenau where some of his more prominent customers lived he glanced at the home of a well-known Nazi an important official in the Berlin postal Department through the open living room windows he could see the big portrait in its massive frame the garish painting of Adolf Hitler features boldly arrogant was still there panova knew the ways of the third reiches bureaucrat if the situation were really critical that Shrine to the fura would have disappeared by now he clucked softly to the horses and continued on his route despite everything he could see no real reason to be unduly alarmed no part of the city had been completely spared from the bombing but Spandau Berlin's second largest and most Western District had escaped the kind of attack everyone feared most saturation bombing night after night the inhabitants expected the blow they were amazed that it had not come for Spandau was the center of Berlin's vast Armament industry in contrast to districts in the very Heart of the City that had suffered 50 to 75% destruction Spandau had lost only 10% of its buildings although this meant that more than 1,000 houses were either destroyed or unusable by the standards of raid toughened berliners that was a mere flea bite atic remark was current in the bomb blackened wastelands of the central districts daband ATA commet inera the little spites are last to reach their Coffins on spands westernmost Fringe In The Quiet pastoral subdistrict of starken Robert and ingaborg col were more than grateful to live in a kind of Backwater the only bombs that had fallen even close were those that missed the nearby Airfield and the damage was slight their two-story orange and brown stucco home with its glass enclosed veranda and its surrounding lawn and garden remained unharmed life went on almost normally except that Robert the 54-year-old technical director of a printing plant was finding the daily trip to his job in the city's Center increasingly arduous it meant running the gamut of the daylight raids it was a constant worry to ingaborg this evening the colbs planned as usual to listen to the German language broadcasts of the BBC although it was a practice long forbidden step by step they had followed the Allied advances from east and west now the Red Army was only a bus ride from the city's Eastern outskirts yet lulled by the rural atmosphere of their surroundings they found the imminent threat to the city Unthinkable the war remote and unreal Robert colb was convinced they were quite safe and ingaborg was convinced that Robert was always right after all he was a veteran of World War I the war Robert had assured her will pass Us by quite certain that no matter what happened they would not be in involved the colbs calmly looked to the Future now that spring was here Robert was trying to decide where to hang The Hammocks in the garden ingaborg had chores of her own to do she planned to plant spinach parsley lettuce and early potatoes there was one major problem should she sew the early potatoes in the first part of April or wait until the more settled spring days of May at his headquarters in a gry stucco three-story house on the outskirts of lansburg 5 miles from the odor Marshal of the Soviet Union Georgie K jukov sat at his desk pondering some plans of his own on one wall a large map of Berlin showed in detail jov's proposed offensive to capture the city on his desk were three field phones one was for General use another linked him to his colleagues Marshalls Constantine rosovsky and Ian stepanovich KV commanders of the huge Army groups on his northern and southern flanks the Third was a direct line to Moscow and the Supreme Commander Joseph Stalin the barrel chested 49-year-old commander of the first Bell Russian front spoke to Stalin each night at 11: reporting the day's advances now jukov wondered how soon Stalin would give the command to take Berlin he hoped he still had some time at a pinch jukov thought he could take the city immediately but he was not quite ready tentatively he had planned the attack for around the end of April with luck he thought he could reach Berlin and reduce all resistance within 10 or 12 days the Germans would contest him for every inch that he expected probably they would fight hardest on the western edge of the city there as far as he could see lay the only clear-cut Escape Route for the German Defenders but he planned to hit them from both sides as they tried to get out by the first week of May he anticipated wholesale Slaughter in the district of Spandau in his second floor vilmer dorf apartment while Johan vber pushed open the shuttered French Windows of his living room stepped out onto the little balcony and took stock of the weather with him were his constant companions Uncle Otto and Aunt Effie two waddling liver colored duxon they looked up at him expectantly waiting for their morning walk Walking was about all weberg did to pass the time these days everyone in the neighborhood liked the 49-year-old Swedish businessman they considered him a good Berliner first a Swede second he had not left the city like so many other foreigners when the bombing began moreover although weberg never complained about his troubles his neighbors knew that he had lost almost everything his wife had died in 1939 his glue factories had been bombed out of business after 30 years as a small businessman in Berlin he had little left now but his dogs and the apartment in the opinion of some of his neighbors he was a better man than many a true German wyberg looked down at Uncle Otto and Aunt Effie time to go out he said he closed the windows and walked across the living room to the little foyer he put on his beautifully tailored Chesterfield and settled his carefully brushed hurg on his head opening the drawer of a polished mahogany Hall table he took out a pair of suede gloves and for a moment stood looking at a framed lithograph lying inside the drawer the print sketched in flamboyant colors showed a fully armored Knight mounted on a rampaging White stallion attached to the knight's Lance was a streaming Banner through the helmet's open Visor the Knight gazed fiercely out a lock of hair fell over his forehead he had piercing eyes and a small black mustache across the waving Banner were the words de banat Trager the standard Bearer weberg slowly closed the drawer he kept the lithograph hidden because the derisive Lampoon of Hitler was banned throughout Germany but vber did not want to get rid of it the caricature was too amusing to throw away snapping leashes on the dogs he locked the front door carefully behind him and went down the two flights of stairs and into the rubble of the Street near the apartment house he doed his hat to some neighbors and with the dogs leading made his way down the street stepping carefully around the potholes he wondered where Dean Trager was now that the end seemed near in Munich at his Eagle's Nest in the mountains at berus Garden or here in Berlin l no one seemed to know although that was not surprising Hitler's whereabouts was always a big secret this morning vber decided to drop in at his favorite bar Harry Ross's at S neoasa one of the few left open in the district it had a varied clientele Nazi bigwigs German officers and a smattering of businessmen there was always good conversation and one could catch upon the latest news where last night's bombs had fallen which factories had been hit how Berlin was standing up under it all weberg liked meeting his old friends in this convivial atmosphere and he was interested in just about every aspect of the war especially the effects of the bombings and the morale of the German people in particular he wanted to know where Hitler was as he crossed the street he once again tipped his hat to an old acquaintance despite all the questions that crowded his mind veberg knew a few things that would have surprised his neighbors for this swed who was more German than the German was also a member of America's top secret office of strategic Services he was an Allied spy in his ground floor apartment in cburg Dr Arthur leite Evangelical pastor of the meanon church was beset by grief and despair his twinspired gothic church was destroyed and his flock dissipated Through the Windows he could see the remains of his church a few weeks before it had received a direct hit and minutes later incendiaries had set it Blaze the sorrow he felt each time he looked at it had not yet abated at the height of the raid oblivious of his own safety pastor leite had rushed into the Blazing Church the back of the edifice and its magnificent organ were still intact running swiftly up the narrow steps to the organ Loft leite had but one thought to Bid Farewell to his beloved organ and to the church singing softly to himself eyes filled with tears Dr leite played his Farewell as bombs burst all over cburg incredulous patients in the nearby Urban hospital and people Sheltering in adjacent cellers heard the meanon organ peeling out the ancient hym from deepest need I Cry To Thee now he was saying a different kind of goodbye on his desk was the draft of a round robin letter he would send to those many parishioners who had left the city or were in the armed forces even though fighting in the east and west is keeping us intentional he wrote the German capital is constantly the center of Air Raids you can imagine dear friends that death is reaping a Rich Harvest coffins have become a scarcity a woman told me that she had offered 20s of honey for one in which to lay her deceased husband Dr leite was also angered we ministers are not always called to burials of air raid victims he wrote often the party takes over the funerals without a minister without God's word and again and again throughout his letter he referred to the devastation of the city you cannot imagine what Berlin looks like now the loveliest buildings have crumbled into ruins often we have no gas light or water God keep us from a famine terrific prices are asked for Black Market Commodities and he ended on a note of bitter pessimism this is probably the last letter for a long time perhaps we shall soon be cut off from all communication shall we see each other again it all rests in God's hand hands cycling purposefully through the littered streets of darem another clergyman father burnhard haish had decided to take matters into his own hands a delicate problem had worried him for weeks night after night he had prayed for guidance and meditated on the course he should take now he had reached a decision the services of all clergymen were in great demand but this was particularly true of Father hapit the 50-year-old priest who carried the words Jesuit not fit for military service stamped across his identity card was also a highly skilled doctor of medicine among his many other duties he was the father provincial of house daram the orphanage maternity hospital and foundling home run by the mission Sisters of the Sacred Heart it was Mother Superior kuna gundis and her flock who had brought about his problem and his decision father hapit had no Illusions about the Nazis or how the war must surely end he had long ago decided that Hitler and his brutal New Order were destined for disaster now the crisis was fast approaching Berlin was trapped the tarnished chalice in the conqueror's eye what would happen to house daram and its good but less than worldly sisters his face serious father hapit pulled up outside the home the building had suffered only superficial damage and the sisters were convinced that their prayers were being heard father hapit did not disagree with them but being a practical man he thought that luck and bad Marksmanship might have had something to do with it as he passed through the entrance hall he looked up at the great statue garbed in blue and gold sword held high St Michael God's fighting Knight against all evil the sister's faith in St Michael was well founded but just the same father hapit was glad he had made his decision like everyone else he had heard from refugees who had fled before the advancing Russians of the horrors that had taken place in eastern Germany many of the accounts were exaggerated he was sure but some he knew to be true father hapit had decided to warn the sisters now he had to choose the right moment to tell them and above all he had to find the right words father hapit worried about that how do you tell 60 nuns and lay sisters that they are in danger of being raped the fear of sexual attack lay over the city like a pole for Berlin after nearly six years of war was now primarily a city of women at the beginning in 1939 there were 4, 321,000 inhabitants of the capital but huge War casualties the call up of both men and women and the voluntary evacuation of 1 million citizens to the safer Countryside in 1943 44 had cut that figure by more than oneir by now the only males left in any appreciable number were children under 18 and men over 60 the 18 to3 male age group totaled barely 100,000 and most most of them were exempt from military service or wounded in January 1945 the City's population had been estimated at 2,900,000 but now in mid-march that figure was certainly too high after 85 raids in less than 11 weeks and with the threat of Siege hanging over the city thousands more had fled military authorities estimated that Berlin's civil population was now about 2,700,000 of whom more than 2 million were women and even that was only an informed guess complicating efforts to obtain a true population figure was the vast Exodus of refugees from the Soviet occupied Eastern provinces some put the refugee figure as high as 500,000 uprooted carrying their belongings on their backs or in horsedrawn wagons or push carts often driving farm animals before them fleeing civilians had clogged the roads into Berlin for months most did not remain in the city but continued West but in their wake they left a repository of nightmarish stories these accounts of their experiences had spread like an epidemic through Berlin infecting many citizens with Terror the refugees told of a vengeful violent and rapacious conqueror people who had treed from as far away as Poland or from the captured parts of East Prussia Pomerania and salisia gave bitter testimony of an enemy who offered No Quarter in fact the refugees declared Russian propaganda was urging the Red Army to spare no one they told of a Manifesto said to have been written by the Soviet Union's top propagandist Ilia Arenberg which was both broadcast and distributed in leaflet form to the red troops kill kill went the manifesto in the German race there is nothing but evil follow the precepts of comrade Stalin Stamp Out the fascist Beast once and for all in its Lair use force and break the racial pride of these Germanic women take them as your lawful booty kill as you storm onward kill you Gallant soldiers of the Red Army the refugees reported that advancing Frontline troops were well disciplined and well behaved but that the secondary units that followed were a disorganized Rabel in Wild drunken ories these Red Army men had murdered looted and raped many Russian commanders the refugees claimed appeared to condone the actions of their men at least they made no effort to stop them from peasants to Gentry the accounts were the same and everywhere in the flood of refugees there were women who told chilling stories of brutal assault of being forced at gunpoint to strip and then submit to repeated rapings how much was fantasy how much fact berliners were not sure those who knew of the atrocities and mass murders committed by German SS troops in Russia and there were thousands who knew feared that the stories were true those who were aware of what was happening to the Jews in concentration camps a new and horrible aspect of national socialism of which the Free World was yet to learn believed the refugees too these more knowledgeable berliners could well believe that the oppressor was becoming the oppressed that the wheel of Retribution was swinging full circle many who knew the extent of the horrors perpetrated by the Third Reich were taking no chances highly placed bureaucrats and top ranking Nazi officials had quietly moved their families out of Berlin or were in the process of doing so Fanatics still remain and the average berliners less privy to information and ignorant of the true situation were also staying they could not or would not leave oh Germany Germany my Fatherland wrote Erna senger a 65-year-old housewife and mother of six children in her diary trust brings disappointment to believe Faithfully means to be stupid and blind but we'll stay in Berlin if everyone left like the neighbors the enemy would have what he wants no we don't want that kind of defeat yet few berliners could claim to be unaware of the nature of the danger almost everyone had heard the stories one couple Hugo and Edith Newman living in cburg actually had been informed by telephone some relatives living in the Russian occupied Zone had risked their lives shortly before all Communications ceased to warn the nyans that the conquerors were raping killing and looting without restraint yet the nyans stayed Hugo's electrical business had been bombed but to abandon it now was Unthinkable others chose to dismiss the stories because propaganda whether spread by refugees or inspired by the government had little or no meaning for them any longer from the moment Hitler ordered the unprovoked invasion of Russia in 1941 all Germans had been subjected to a Relentless barrage of hate propaganda the Soviet people were painted as uncivilized and subhuman when the tide turned and German troops were forced back on all fronts in Russia Dr Joseph Geral the reich's club-footed propaganda Chief intensified his efforts particularly in Berlin gal's assistant Dr Vera nman privately admitted that our propaganda as to what the Russians are like as to what the population can expect from them in Berlin has been so successful that we have reduced the berliners to a state of sheer Terror by the end of 1944 now man felt that we have overdone it our propaganda has written Cade against us now the tone of the propaganda had changed as Hitler's Empire was sheared off piece by piece as Berlin was demolished block by block Gobles had begun to switch from Terror mongering to reassurance now the people were told that victory was just around the corner about all Geral succeeded in doing was to generate among Cosmopolitan berliners a grotesque maab kind of humor it took the form of a large Collective raspberry which the population derisively directed at themselves their leaders and the world berliners quickly changed gal's motto the furer commands we follow to the furer commands we bear what follows as for the propaganda Chiefs Promises of ultimate Victory the irreverent solemnly urged all to enjoy the war the peace will be terrible in the atmosphere of near Panic created by the refugees reports facts and reason became distorted as rumor took over all sorts of atrocity stories spread throughout the city Russians were described as slant eyed Mongols who butchered women and children on sight clergymen were said to have been burned to death with flamethrowers the stories told of nuns raped and then forced to walk naked through the streets of how women were made camp followers and all males marched off to servitude in Siberia there was even a radio report that the Russians had nailed victims tongues to tables the less impressionable found the tales too fantastic to believe others were grimly aware of what was to come in her private clinic in sherberg Dr anarie duranda a graduate of the University of Chicago and one of Europe's most famous gynecologists knew the truth the 55-year-old doctor well known for her anti-nazi views she was the author of many books championing women's rights equality of the Sexes and birth control all banned by the Nazis was urging her patience to leave Berlin she had examined numerous Refugee women and had reached the conclusion that if anything the accounts of assault understated the facts Dr Durand V intended to remain in Berlin herself but now she carried a small fast acting cyanide capsule everywhere she went after all her years as a doctor she was not sure that she would be able to commit suicide but she kept the pill in her bag for if the Russians took Berlin she thought that every female from 8 to 80 could expect to be raped Dr Margo SAU Brook also expected the worst she worked with her husband Professor Ferdinand sabr Germany's most eminent surgeon in Berlin's oldest and largest hospital the charite in the M District because of its size and location close by the main railway station the hospital had received the worst of the refugee cases from her examination of the victims Dr SAU Brook had no Illusions about the ferocity of the Red Army when it ran a mark the rapes she knew for certain were not propaganda Margo SAU Brook was appalled by the number of refugees who had attempted suicide including scores of women who had not been molested or violated terrified by what they had witnessed or heard many had slashed their wrists some had even tried to kill their children how many had actually succeeded in ending their lives nobody knew Dr Zer Brook saw only those who had failed but it seemed clear that a wave of suicides would take place in Berlin if the Russians captured the city most other doctors apparently concurred with this view in vilmer dorf surgeon Gunter lampre noted in his diary that the major topic even among doctors is the technique of suicide conversations of this sort have become unbearable it was much more than mere conversation the death plans were already underway in every District doctors were besieged by patients and Friends seeking information about Speedy suicide and begging for poison prescriptions when Physicians refused to help people turned to their druggists caught up in a wave of fear distraught berliners by the thousands had decided to die by any means rather than submit to the Red Army the first pair of Russian boots I see I'm going to commit suicide 20-year-old Christa munier confided to her friend Julian boknik Christa had already secured poison so had Julian's friend Rosie Hoffman and her parents the Hoffmans were utterly despondent and expected no mercy from the Russians although Julian did did not know it at the time the Hoffmans were related to Reich furer Heinrich himler head of the Garo and the SS the man responsible for the mass murder of millions in the concentration camps poison particularly cyanide was the preferred method of self-destruction one type of capsule known as a kcb pill was in especially great demand this concentrated hydrocyanic compound was so powerful that death was almost instantaneous even the fumes could kill with Germanic forethought some government agency had laid down vast quantities of it in Berlin Nazi officials senior officers government department heads and even lesser functionaries were able to get supplies of poison for themselves their families and friends with little difficulty doctors druggists dentists and laboratory workers also had access to pills or capsules some even improved on the tablet's potency Dr Rudolph hook professor of pathology at the University of Berlin and the best known cancer pathologist in the city had added acetic acid to cyanide capsules for himself and his wife if they needed them he assured her the acetic acid would make the poison work even faster some berliners unable to get the quick acting cyanide were hoarding barbiturates or cyanide derivatives comedian Hein ruman often called the Danny K of Germany was so fearful of the future for his beautiful actress wife Hera Filer and their young son that he had hidden a can of of rat poison in a flower pot just in case the former Nazi ambassador to Spain retired leftenant General vilhelm Fel planned to poison himself and his wife with an overdose of medicine the general had a weak heart when he suffered attacks he took a stimulant containing digitalis Fel knew that an overdose would cause cardiac arrest and end matters quickly he had even saved enough for some of his friends for others a fast bullet seemed the best and bravest end but an astonishing number of women mostly middle-aged had chosen the bloodiest way of all the Razer in the ketzler family in charlottenburg Gertrude 42 normally a cheerful woman now carried a razor blade in her purse as did her sister and mother-in-law Gertrude's friend iner ruling had a razor blade too and the two women anxiously discussed which the most effective way to ensure death was a slash across the wrists or a lengthwise slit up the arteries there was always the chance that such drastic measures might not have to be taken for most berliners there still remained One Last Hope in Terror of the Red Army the vast majority of the population particularly the women now desperately wanted the anglo-american forces to capture Berlin it was almost noon back of the Russian lines in the city of Bromberg Captain Sergey Ivanovic gof gazed blury eyed about the large living room of the luxurious third floor apartment he and two other Red Army correspondents had just liberated gbo and his friends were happily drunk every day they drove from the headquarters in Bromberg to the front 90 Mi away to get the news but at the moment everything was quiet there would not be much to report until the Berlin offensive began in the meantime after months of Frontline reporting the good-looking 25-year-old gbo was enjoying himself bottle in hand he stood looking at the rich Furnishings he had never seen anything quite like them heavy paintings in ornate gold frames adorned the walls the windows had satin lined drapings the furniture was upholstered in Rich briaded materials thick Turkish carpets covered the floors and massive chandeliers hung in the living room and the adjoining dining room gof was quite sure that an important Nazi must have owned this apartment there was a small door a jar at one end of the living room gbo pushed it open and discovered a bathroom at the end of a rope hanging from a hook on the wall was the body of a Nazi official in full uniform gbo stared briefly at the body he had seen thousands of dead Germans but this hanging body looked silly gbo called out to his friends but they were having too much fun in the dining room to respond they were throwing German and Venetian Crystal at the chandelier and at each other gbo walked back into the living room intending to sit down on a long sofa lie had noticed there but now he discovered that it was already occupied lying on it at full length in a long Grecian likee gown with a tassled cord at the waist was a dead woman she was quite young and she had prepared for death carefully her hair was braided and hung over each shoulder her hands were folded across her breasts nursing his bottle gbo sat down in an armchair and looked at her behind him the laughter and the Smashing of glasswar in the dining room continued the girl was probably in her early 20s and from the bluish marks on her lips gof thought she had probably taken poison back of the sofa on which the dead woman lay was a table with silver framed photographs smiling children with a young couple presumably their parents and an elderly couple gbo thought of his family during the siege of Leningrad his mother and father half starved had tried to make a soup out of a kind of industrial oil it had killed them both one brother had been killed in the first days of the war the other 34-year-old male a partisan leader had been caught by the SS tied to a stake and burned alive this girl lying on the sofa had died quite peacefully gbo thought he took a long Swig at the bottle stepped over to the sofa and picked up the dead girl he walked over to the closed windows behind him amid shouts of laughter the chandelier in the dining room smashed to the ground with a loud crash gbo broke quite a lot of glass himself as he threw the dead girl's body straight through the window berliners who almost daily shook their fists at the bombers who as often as not sorrowed for family relatives or friends lost in Air Raids or in the armed forces now fervently spoke of the British and Americans not as conquerors but as liberators it was an extraordinary reversal of attitude and this state of mind produced curious results charlottenberg Maria kler refused to believe the Americans and British would let burlin fall into Russian hands she was even determined to help the Western allies the gray-haired 45-year-old housewife told friends she was ready to go out and fight to hold back the Reds until the Amis get here many berliners fought down their fears by listening to BBC broadcasts and noting each phase of the battles being fought on the crumbling Western Front almost as though they were following the course of a Victorious German Army rushing to the relief of Berlin in between raids Margaretta Schwarz an accountant spent night after night with her neighbors meticulously plotting the anglo-american drive across Western Germany each mile gained seemed to her almost like another step toward Liberation it seemed that way to liselot ravenet too her time was spent in her book lined apartment in templehof where she carefully penciled in the latest American advances on a big map and feverishly willed the Amis on fra Raven did not like to think of what might happen if the Russians came in first she was a semi-invalid with steel braces around her hips and running down her right leg thousands were quite certain the armist would get to Berlin first their faith was almost childlike vague and unclear fra Anamaria hule whose husband was a doctor began tearing up old Nazi Flags to use as bandages for the great battle she was expecting on the day the Americans arrived charlottenberg brigit vber 20-year-old bride of three months was sure the Americans were coming and she thought she knew where they intended to live brigit had heard that Americans enjoy a high standard of living and liked the Finer Things of life she was ready to bet they had carefully chosen the wealthy residential district of Nicolas hardly a bomb had fallen there